Absolute Beginners
by KosagiNoLegion
Summary: When A20 joins forces with Sora, The World may tremble. It certainly will never be quite the same for either of them. Set during the game but is generally separate from it. Chapter 5: Slumming A return to the World results in an unexpected invitation.
1. A Tale of Two Twin Blades

**_Absolute Beginners _**  
by   
Deborah J. Brown

* * *

.Hack is copyrighted to Bandai Entertainment. I'm just playing in it.

Author's Note: This is an Alternate Universe fic in the sense that while I'm trying to keep as true to the original storyline as possible, I have something happen that may not be the case in the original story. I like getting reviews here, but in general all response comments will be put on my LJ. (You can find that by following my webpage link in my user information, since the Pit screws up HTML entirely.) You don't have to be a member to comment there, though I do screen all anonymous posts.

* * *

_**A Tale of Two Twin Blades **_

Newbies.

There were times when A20 wondered where they all came from. Every week there were more and more of them, running around the World acting like children. Bumbling their way through dungeons and complaining bitterly that they weren't finding any treasure worth keeping. Not to mention whining when their character had been killed for the umpteenth time and they had forgotten to save their game.

Still, once, not so very long ago, A20 had been a newbie herself. She'd started playing just because other members of her class were doing it and hadn't found it all that much fun. Then another player - a Heavy Blade named Mimiru - had taught her how to play properly. Since then, A20 had come to enjoy the game, leveling up her character and learning the ins and outs of dungeon crawling. Not to mention the pleasures of grunty racing. The mini-game, added in the newest version of the World, gave her something to do between jogging through miles of twisted and all too similar passages. She'd yet to beat Balmung, said to be the tops in every server available, but she could usually keep her score up in the top five.

A20 had to admit that it was Mimiru's patience with what had to have been a particularly aggravating newbie that had allowed her to reach this point. She'd kept her character going for over half a year and was now thirtieth level - quite an achievement considering she only got a few hours a week to play. Admittedly, the character wasn't much to look at, with its childish size, generally low stats and fairly bland choice of colors, but she was rather proud of it, even keeping the stupid name that she'd chosen way back when she hadn't really cared what she was doing. In some ways both design and name were an embarrassment to her, but she'd decided to regard them as a reminder of what she'd once been like. It was because of that that she tried to be helpful to the more clueful newbies, teaching them some of the ways of the World so that they could have fun playing, rather than give up in disgust.

Her latest project, however, was testing her patience. She'd found him dragging himself out of a Spring of Myst a few days earlier and had taken the bedraggled Twin Blade under her wing. She had to admit that it was probably an error in judgment on her part. Anyone going by the name of the semi-legendary Player Killer, Sora, and using S0R4TEHGR8 for a member address, most likely wasn't interested in playing for the sheer fun of the game.

No, it was far more likely that he - or she, one never knew - had joined simply to make a nuisance of themselves, even choosing a character design that was near twin to his hero. _Probably was terribly disappointed to find out they changed the game to prevent Player Killers, too._ It occurred to her that the real Sora had probably quit in disgust over that. She'd been one of the few who could claim to have actually played with him and it seemed to her that that was the sort of thing he'd do. She'd heard rumors of him over in Lambda Server, but as far as she could tell, he'd quit some time ago. Certainly he'd not answered any of her flashmails before the version change caused her to lose his member address.

Ordinarily A20 would have paid attention to the obvious danger signs of name and member address and avoided this one like the plague. She'd nearly done so in fact, but the lost way the newbie had reacted to everything around him, from grunties to grunty food to the way he'd run from something so weak as a goblin had made her change her mind. This one needed help and while he was about as annoying as her little brothers she doubted anyone else was going to show him the ropes.

She just hoped she wouldn't regret it.

_**.oOo. **_

Sora sat on the fence and watched the girl feeding the latest in a long sequence of grunties. His companion had a fascination with the things that came entirely too close to obsession for his tastes, particularly since it meant hanging around the grunty compound and - worst of all - smelling the little nuisances. He would have liked to have a long talk with the game designers - his father included - who'd thought it was a good idea to include body odor as an attribute.

It was weird, though. The whole body odor thing didn't seem to disturb A20, who seemed to consider it a challenge to get the attribute just right. She always had been a trifle obsessive, even back in the old days before Sora had gotten himself involved with Old Lady Morgana and stuck - for entirely too long - in the weapon of one of Her tools. Granted, Sora had only played with A20 for a game or two then and that only because the silly girl had just handed him her Member Address when he'd asked for it. Sora had nearly fainted dead with shock over anyone stupid enough to do that. She'd even gone and done it again after rescuing him from that stupid puddle he'd fallen into, apparently either not recognizing him or not believing that he was the real Sora. It was more likely the latter - his character design hadn't changed, after all. He was still green haired, scarred on the face and among the taller characters in the game.

All things considered, though, it was probably a good thing she didn't know who he was. His experience with Skeith had left Sora drained. His experience points had dropped to zero and he had had nothing in his inventory to heal him. Some instinct had told him that this would be a very bad time to be killed. His thoughts were still muddled, however, and he couldn't quite lay a finger on why there was a problem. It had to do with how he thought of himself, though. A niggling confusion over what he ought to look like over his current form. Oh, his shape was right, he _knew_ it was right. _And wrong. Very, very wrong. Why? _

"I don't know how you can make that face, Sora," A20 commented as she watched her pet transform in size. "Most character graphics aren't so expressive. Did you get the expansion pack? I didn't think it included that sort of code."

Sora shrugged. This wasn't the first time A20 had mentioned an expansion pack. "Could be," he answered agreeably, then choked as the first wave of odor hit him. "That's _awful_. Did you _have_ to make it stink like that?"

Turning on him, A20 put her hands on her hips and glared. Well, sort of glared. The trouble with the character icons all about him was that it was really difficult to read their feelings from expressionless features and - in the case of those not using the goggle/microphone combinations - near emotionless voices. "Sora, I realize you don't like grunties but aren't you overdoing the joke? It's not like you can really smell it, after all. Even if you have the goggles they don't include odor."

He stared at her, blankly, for several moments. Then, "Oh… Sorry. Yeah, I guess it _is_ a stupid joke," he agreed hurriedly. He was beginning to realize that, if there was a joke, it wasn't a funny one. Not a funny one at all.

And it was on him.

_**.oOo. **_

Sora was being awfully quiet, an unusual state for him, A20 thought wryly. "Well, that's it for my food items," she told him. "I'll need to find some more if I want to get this fellow up to full speed. Shall we head to the next dungeon?"

No answer. A20 coughed, tempted to use her controller to guide her character over to where Sora's was and poke him. If there'd been a point to doing so, she would have, but the game didn't have any options that let you get someone's attention that way anymore. Instead she sent him a Flash Mail. ¦EARTH TO SORA? You still there or did you go off to the bathroom without telling me?¦

The character piece sat up straight, waving its arms as if startled. "You don't have to shout!" Not for the first time A20 wished she could afford the new goggles. Watching the characters through the monitor always made the images look like something on some rather badly animated children's show. The goggles would have at least made Sora's antics look more like that of a person, rather than a cockroach flailing around. _A better monitor would help, too. _

_That expansion pack must be nice, though. It lets him do so many things the rest of us can't._ It made Sora's character act more realistically, allowed him to do things like perch on rails. _And fall in Springs of Myst,_ she reminded herself. There had to be some bugs in the system still, because she couldn't see that as being a particularly desirable addition to the game. Unless, of course, it was there to provide a disadvantage to players who, otherwise, had the unfair benefit of an ability to go into areas of the game the rest of the players couldn't enter. _Still, it'd be nice to be able to make my character do a face fault or something right now. He's such a ridiculous nuisance sometimes._

"Sorry. Didn't mean to zone out on you. I was… distracted… by something." That was another thing about the expansion pack that A20 envied. The ability to make one's character sound like a normal human being. Most of the players who bothered with the sound option on their game had to make do with artificially generated voices that sounded as fake as they really were. Sora sounded human, so much so that it was hard to believe that the computer was taking his typed in text and turning it into speech. It even managed inflections. _Or is he using the microphone?_ Even that tended to sound wrong, though, the filter changing the voice mechanizing it too much.

Returning to her previous thought, A20 gestured back towards the Gate. "Wanna go delving now? I gotta get some more grunty food, anyway."

The green-haired character piece cocked its head, then nodded. "Okay. Any place special? I made it to tenth level last time we went out. I think I could handle a twelfth level dungeon, if you don't mind slumming."

A20 grinned as she typed, "I told you before, I don't care about leveling up the way you seem to. Got all your heal items? And did you remember to get some higher level weapons?"

An odd expression crossed Sora's character's face and he looked down at the katar attached to his wrists. "I'm… not ready to give these up," he said softly. "Sorry. I went through a lot for them."

With a shrug that she wished she could express through the program, A20 answered, "Well, if that's what you want. I just think that you'd want something that does more damage more frequently. The death spell isn't usually all that special in those lower level weapons." She wished he hadn't blocked her from checking his inventory. She worried sometimes that he wasn't properly equipped, seeming to rely on both his expansion pack's special abilities and on healing items rather than trying to get stronger weapons and better spells. His knives, especially, were a big concern. They had to be Assassin Blades - far too low-level weaponry for any dungeon higher than fifth level - even _with_ the death spell. Still, it was his choice, after all. "Okay. Let's go then. You can choose the field. Just remember, I need some mushrooms so try to choose an environment where we'll find them."

He saluted. "Will do, my fearless leader!"

_**.oOoOoOo. **_

The bladed arm swung over Sora's head, forcing him to leap backwards and out of the way. It was getting easier to dodge attacks, much to his relief. His old skills were returning to him, though in a much different way than before. Then it had been a matter of finger dexterity. Now his entire body was coming into play, responding in ways that his real body never could have. He winced as the monster he was fighting got a good shot in, then spun on one hand and sliced through its carapace, sending black smoke up around the thing's body as the Death spell took effect and dropped its hit points to nearly nothing.

On the other side, A20 gave a triumphant cry as the monster fell to her blades. "That one was hard," she said, the mechanical tone of her voice hiding the satisfaction Sora knew she felt at winning this battle. It was the last one for this area, meaning the treasure was theirs for the taking. He paused, closing his eyes and visualizing the map that had formed in his head when A20 had used the fairy orb back at the entrance to the level. A20 was apparently checking her map, too, because she turned and pointed. "That way. Three rooms back. We could have avoided this fight if we'd gone around the other way, you know."

The last remnants of the monster disappeared, releasing the experience points it contained. To Sora, it was like a breath of fresh air, especially since the surge of energy was enough to level him up to eleven. "Sure," he agreed, "But then I wouldn't get the experience. I need that more than I need the treasure." He surreptitiously took a dose of healing potion to soothe the pain of his injuries. A20 didn't like his habit of trying to keep his wounds to the minimum, feeling that it wasted potions that might be _needed_ later. She'd be particularly aggravated now if she caught him at it. With no monsters left in the dungeon, he could have waited for the teleport back to the Server to heal him.

In theory, Sora agreed with A20's advice. A regular player could afford to be less considerate of their character's needs. Could afford to wander around an empty dungeon with barely a hit point to their name and never have to worry about it. As long as they didn't go back outside they'd never have to fight again. Even if there were a monster right on top of the dungeon entrance, fast action would get them out of the field before it could touch them.

The trouble was, Sora was no longer dealing with a character that was separate from himself. It hadn't been until A20 had growled at him for complaining about grunty stink that he'd really understood it, but every instinct had warned him of the danger even before that. He wasn't sure exactly how it had happened but being freed of Skeith hadn't resolved his problems for him, just changed them. Like that wavemaster, Tsukasa, Sora was now trapped in the World quite literally. He didn't know how, or why, nor did he care - not right now. He had to survive, had to get leveled up as quickly and as much as possible. Before Morgana realized he was still around and came after him. Later he could try to work out why he was trapped and find his way out. _I hope. _

Walking through the other rooms, destroying as many of the regenerating boxes and vases and similar items on the way as he could, Sora reflected that - aside from the realization that he hadn't seen his family in what seemed forever - his new status was sort of fun. Being hurt in fights wasn't good, but he now had abilities that no one else in The World possessed. He could feel the weather in the outside field; taste the things growing out there; hear sounds that other players probably never noticed; even go places no one else could. He never tired, never had to eat, never had to sleep.

As a sword struck him down before he could reach the Gott Statue and its treasure he reflected that there was one real disadvantage. He could die here.

_**.oOo. **_

"What in the…" A20 stared at the Heavy Blade who'd just struck her partner down. A movement at the edge of her screen warned her and she leapt aside just barely in time to avoid an axe wielded by a female character whose design was oddly familiar. Hurriedly she typed, "Who are you? Stop that!" Behind her, the doors slammed shut on the room.

The pair were silent as they approached her and it dawned on her that they intended to take her down as well. _Which ought to be impossible._ They had to be hackers, using some sort of cheat codes to break the rules of The World that prevented Player Killers. She struck at them uselessly. The cheat, whatever it was, didn't make the pair vulnerable to her attack.

"A…20… help…" Sora's voice came over her speaker through flash mail, scared, sounding like one of her brothers when he'd gotten himself into more trouble than usual. "Resurrect me.. Please." It occurred to A20 that there wasn't much point to using a resurrect potion. He wouldn't be able to stop these two. It'd be better to escape the only other way possible.. She reached for her off switch, saying as much in response and got a terrified scream from Sora in response. "NO! PLEASE… I'll die. Please help me!"

She hesitated. The kid was being stupid but maybe he needed to learn that there were some things he couldn't fight. Things like cheating jerks who thought it was funny to take out low level players for the sheer merry hell of it. Like Sora's namesake, for that matter. She tossed a resurrect spell his way, then dodged a blow from the Heavy Blade, only to have her character lose almost half her hit points to the Heavy Axe.

Sora's character rose to its feet, swaying. "Leave her alone." His tone was cold and hard, oddly mature compared to its usual cheerful tone. "Go away. Go away before I hurt you." There was surprising confidence in his voice, as if he knew something no one else did.

One of the cheaters laughed. "Kid, you don't have a clue, do you?" She struck at him but missed as Sora made a series of impossible somersaults out of the way. "Hello. Do we have a fellow hacker here? Not a very good one, I think."

"I don't cheat," Sora growled. "I don't _have_ to. I never have. Everything I am, I earned, fair and square." His tone held a note of rage that was all the more intense for its quietness. Then, to A20's astonishment, she found him standing beside her character, his arm sweeping around its body and flinging it up onto a piece of statuary, out of reach of the Heavy Blade that was still trying to get her. "Stay there," he ordered, and the impossibility of the situation caused her to freeze in position, hands dropping away from her controller.

"Don't hack? Give me a break, kid. There's no way you could do something like that _without_ hacking." The Heavy Axe swung her weapon only to jerk backwards as Sora used her as a prop, leaping over her and coming up behind. "Hey! Wait…."

Then Sora's arms were wrapped around the character and his blades cut downwards. A20 gasped, shocked, as both they, and Sora himself, began to glow bright red. Her speakers rang with a high pitched note that seemed to strike straight through her brain.

_**.oOo. **_

Sora gasped as the energy flowed into him, the shock of it chilling his rage at being called a hacker. A sound, a single brilliant note of a bell or a giant gong, filled his ears. Red light filled his eyes. He could feel his opponent's body begin to fade, could feel her mind and his melding together. He was beginning to see her memories, to read every selfish envious little thought. He could take it. Could take it all and steal her very Self away. Like Skeith used to steal the lives of those who accidentally came between him and his chosen prey.

Like _he_ had been stolen.

The realization hit him as her voice echoed in his ear, sounding like another voice only too long ago. "…no…please…wait…" His own words, when Morgana had drained his mind from him, had stolen his self and implanted it into Skeith's wand. He could do the same to this girl. He wanted to. Her life force was increasing his, leveling him up so quickly that it was all he could do not to scream in ecstasy. He was nearly fortieth level already and still climbing.

He wanted to take everything of her and be as bad as Morgana. He couldn't. It was one thing to Player Kill in a world where the victim only had to log in again, losing only what they hadn't saved. It was another thing entirely to kill someone for real. _Mom and Dad would be real mad at me if I did that._

Stepping back, dropping the barely conscious character, Sora moved towards the other hacker, lowering his head and looking at the character from beneath his bangs. "Would you like to be next? Log out or I'll do to you what I just did to her." It was an empty threat - Sora never wanted to do another Drain like that again - but he had some experience in intimidation tactics and he could see by the way the character icon was backing away that he'd scared the player. Too, he could certainly defend himself now. He'd sucked out enough levels from the female character as to be over halfway to the highest level possible.

Suddenly the two hackers disappeared and the door to the room crashed open. Sora took several deep breaths, savoring the taste of the virtual air. A part of him wondered how it was that he had a sense of smell, being essentially a program, but he decided not to think about it until he had to. Right now he had other troubles.

Going over to the Gott statue, Sora opened the chest and picked up the treasure it contained. A Spiral Edge, yellow candy and one of those stupid Grunty statues. "I'll take the candy, A20. You can have the rest," he called. No answer. He sighed, looking over his shoulder at the girl dropping down from the piece of architecture where she'd been placed. "You're going to be difficult, aren't you?"

"You're cheating. You're hacking into the system. You have to be. You know how much trouble you could get into? Hacking's a capitol crime!"

**_.oOo._**

Sora's icon stalked over to A20's, silent, assured, moving in that easy way that made the character seem like a real person. Then his eyes scanned the room, searching for something, finally settling on gazing directly towards her monitor screen. Ignoring her character piece, he spoke to her, as if he knew exactly where she was. "I," he said quietly, tone cold and angry, red eyes narrowing as they gazed up at her, "don't like being called a cheat."

"But that's what you are. You can't do that sort of thing without hacking." She put her thumb on her off switch again, preparing to get out of the area the quickest way she knew how. She wasn't sure why she hesitated. Something in those eyes made her hesitate. Emotion, in a face that ought to be unable to show any reaction. Pain. _I don't understand._

He turned away, then. "I don't cheat," he said again. "Cheating's a bad thing.." His tone, and the odd phrasing, startled her. Once again she was reminded of her little brothers. "I'm a troublemaker. I admit it. I can make systems do things that the programmers never meant them to. I find the loopholes in the rules and I use them. But I'm _not_ a cheater. Why won't anyone ever believe me?" The last words were plaintive, said more to himself than to A20.

"Sora…."

"I'm sorry, A20. I wouldn't have done it at all, but they would have killed me. I can't afford to be killed right now. Not if you bailed out on me." Green hair fell forward around the character piece's scarred face as he took out an object that A20 was startled to recognize as the no longer used graphic for a Sprite Ocarina. A moment later they were standing at the entrance to the dungeon and another moment later they'd gated back to Delta Server. "Don't forget to save," Sora told her. "You're always leaving that for last." He broke the connection that made them a party and gated back out quickly.

His last words before he disappeared left her speechless. "I wish _I_ could save."

To Be Continued….


	2. Partnership

**_Absolute Beginners _**  
by   
Deborah J. Brown

* * *

.Hack is copyrighted to Bandai Entertainment. I'm just playing in it.

Author's Note: This is an Alternate Universe fic in the sense that while I'm trying to keep as true to the original storyline as possible, I have something happen that may not be the case in the original story. I like getting reviews here, but in general all response comments will be put on my LJ. (You can find that by following my webpage link in my user information, since the Pit screws up HTML entirely.) You don't have to be a member to comment there, though I do screen all anonymous posts.

* * *

**_Partnership_**

Sora splashed his feet in the Spring of Myst, annoying the A.I. that lived there and grinning at the feel of chill liquid. "You're supposed to throw a weapon or armor in. Not yourself. Go. Away." The A.I.'s voice was a sour whine to Sora's ears.

"You're getting a personality, aren't you?" Sora answered, gazing musingly into the waters at the teardrop shaped creature. "The Old Lady doing that?" He didn't think it was Morgana, though. The program that controlled The World didn't want anyone around who might be a threat to her position. A vague memory of having broken Aura into pieces while in Skeith's wand came to him. "Aura's work?"

A moment of silence followed his question. "Don't say that name aloud!" it grumbled finally. "Do you want to make trouble for all of us? The Mistress is getting angry at everything. That kid is causing trouble all over the place." Before Sora could ask what the A.I. meant, it added, "And don't ask me. You want to know, go read the boards, if you can figure out how. Go listen in on the Meat People's conversations. Tell you what. I'll up your weapon stats for free if you get me good information."

Looking at his katar, Sora shook his head. "You're joking, right? These things are 34th level. You're just a second level Spring. Besides, you level 'em up, I lose the Death Spell. No way." There was also the fact that he'd won them in one of the hardest dungeon challenges of the time. A race to the bottom of a ten level deep dungeon, no use of healing items except those found _in_ the dungeon and solo. The blades, named for him now, were unique in The World and valued all the more because he'd beaten his own father to the goal. He'd ended up Player Killing his old man for the first time then, when he'd simply had enough of being called a vile, unconscionable, unscrupulous cheat. Admittedly, it was an over reaction. Piros hadn't known, after all, that the character calling himself by his own son's name was really his child. The old man had always tended to over dramatize things in any case, a fact that Sora ought to have taken into account.

Still, it had been hilarious, especially listening to his father complain about the evil Sora in the game at the dinner table the next day. It had gotten even better when he'd had an opportunity to Player Kill his oldest sister some time later. _Never did get her Member Address though. No matter how many times I Player Killed her. Big sis is as stubborn as the rest of us._

The A.I. coughed. "I said, I could up your armor."

"No, you can't. This field's set in the daytime. Wrong parameters for upping armor. Besides, I'm perfectly capable of finding you lot and upping my armor and weaponry as I need it. I'm staying in the lower levels for a reason, you know." It wasn't that he didn't want to be higher level. He also didn't want to be killed. At this point, unless he went out and Player Killed a few more, his safest choice was to stay in the low, easy, areas and work his way up slowly. _And I can't risk Player Killing. Not unless I figure out a way to control whatever it is I did to that hacker. No. It's safer to take it slow. _

The trouble was, the safest choice was also the most boring choice. When he'd been in his own body and this had been a game, Sora had gone for the most dangerous areas he could possibly handle, choosing areas far too high for his level and only lowering his expectations when he'd maxed out the amount of experience he'd gotten from the fights. It was a strategy that had served him better than some felt he had a right to. It was also a strategy he couldn't afford now. Alone, and fully expecting to remain alone, now that he'd broken with A20, death would be final. _I miss her,_ he realized sadly.

Again the A.I. coughed. "You should pay attention," he said. "Look. The rules are the rules, yes, but I can tell you where to find a Spring that can break the rules for you. You'll have to make it through a difficult dungeon to get to that field, but…."

"Why should I?" Sora asked dryly. "I'm safe here."

"You're bored here. You've been sitting with your feet in my Spring, sighing wistfully for the last half hour, Meat People time. That's a long time for us A.I.'s, you know. You get me some really good information that I can pass on to the rest of my kind and I'll give you the keywords to the dungeon, and the codes to get through to the other side. Okay?"

Sora sighed. "Doubt I'll find anything," he argued, getting up. "But…" At least it was something to do.

_**.oOoOoOo. **_

The letters on the screen were bolded, italicized and flashing bright red. All by themselves they would have been enough to tell the reader that the one sending the message meant what he said. Combined with the enraged voice over her speakers - very quickly turned off to keep the noise from waking A20's parents - it made Sora's anger entirely too obvious.

¦ALL RIGHT, ALREADY! I HEAR YOU!**¦**

Typing hurriedly, A20 answered, **¦**Uhm… Sora? You okay? You don't have to shout. You'll wake my parents.**¦**

**¦**Do you have any idea how annoying getting pinged ten times in a minute is?**¦** Both voice and text were quieter this time. Before she could protest that he hadn't answered the first pings, he added, **¦**If someone ignores you, don't you think that means they don't want to talk?**¦**

She sighed. **¦**I was afraid of that. Look, Sora. I'm sorry. I was upset. Can we get together?**¦**

There was a moment of silence and A20 moved her character and camera around the Server area, hoping to spot him. She'd thought about the situation long and hard over the last two days and while she didn't understand half of what was going on, she was beginning to realize the kid was in some sort of trouble. At last the other Twin Blade responded. **¦**Meet me in Delta, at the church.**¦**

It wasn't hard to figure out where he meant. Delta had a peculiar field that contained nothing but a walkway and single building. It was empty of monsters and treasure, but had become a favorite meeting place because of its relative safety. **¦**Okay. I'll be there in a few minutes.**¦**

_**.oOoOoOo. **_

Sora watched from the rooftop of one of the buildings near the Chaos gate, then dropped down and leaped through after A20 had gone on her own. A moment later he was standing on the bridge leading to the church, just as A20 was entering the building. He paused, gazing around. The place hadn't changed at all since he'd visited it the last time. The memory made him wince. Fighting Krim and losing to the more experienced player. It was his first real loss in months and it still bothered him. Krim's attitude bugged him too, but he wasn't in a position to tell the man off. For one thing, as far as he knew, Krim hadn't been playing for a while now. No one seemed to even know his name, these days.

With a sigh, Sora walked up the bridge and walked through the open doors. "Okay. I'm here. What is it?"

A20 turned. "Oh, there you are. I wondered if you were going to show up." He searched out the small point of shadow that he'd come to realize was a player's camera, but it disappeared as she shifted her point of view to that of her character, allowing her to look him in the face. It was an oddly comforting gesture, though he doubted she'd done it for his peace of mind. Even if it was less annoying to talk to someone who wasn't looking over your shoulder through the third person camera. Those always made Sora feel uncomfortable, as if he was being spied on.

Moving towards Sora, A20 eyed him. "You're in some sort of trouble, aren't you?" Her voice was as mechanical as ever, giving him no clue as to what she was thinking or feeling. Not for the first time he wished she'd use a microphone, if only to let him hear the inflections in her voice. The little smilies and other emoticons she used were barely adequate to the purpose.

It occurred to Sora that he was worrying over not reading A20's reactions more because he didn't want to think about what she'd said, or what she might be planning. He'd had over a year in the Real World to learn to read the tiny nuances of character reaction during his days as a Player Killer. He really didn't need to hear her real voice to know that she was worried, tense and upset. The question was, had she been upset enough to contact the SysAdmins or was she on her own?

At last he answered, "Who? Me? In trouble? Why do you think that?"

She eyed him and he couldn't help but fidget nervously. He hated serious conversations. Okay, so his situation _was_ serious. It didn't make him feel any better, knowing that. If anything, it made him feel worse. He fidgeted, unsure how to handle this. It was easy to tease. Easy to be the annoying gadfly. It wasn't nearly so easy to be so badly in need of help. _Was this why Tsukasa made it so hard to help him?_ he wondered and decided that there had probably been more to it than just that.

"Item one. Your character piece doesn't act like a normal one." A20 ticked her reasons off by tapping on one of the pews behind her. "You can go places other players can't go. Can express yourself in ways other players can't. You can Player Kill, when the programmers took that ability out of the game last version."

He shrugged. "Bug in the system," he offered. "I probably lucked out."

"No. You knew you could do it. You expected it to work, even though I'd _told_ you it wasn't possible anymore." She watched him so closely, her attention making him even more nervous. He fidgeted some more and finally was unable to stand still another minute.

_**.oOo. **_

Sora's antics forced A20 to go back to remote view so she could keep an eye on him. His movements were so quick and filled with nervous energy. He somersaulted from bench to bench, finally ending up sitting atop the chained statue at the other end of the room. With a sigh, she followed him. "Sora…"

"Ping pong. Ding dang dong." A somersault back over her.

"Sora…."

"Cymbals a pair. Cymbals a pair. The old temple monk has got no hair." Spinning on his left hand, longer locks streaming around him..

"Sora…."

"Bingly boingly bingly beep." Cartwheels ending in a spectacular leap that took him up into the rafters and landed him on the chandelier.

Annoyed, she flash mailed him, **¦**WOULD YOU STAND STILL FOR A MINUTE AND TALK TO ME?**¦** To her surprise, he not only halted, but fell on his backside as if the flash mail had startled him. To her annoyance he started making little whining noises about how much it hurt. "C'mon, Sora. I want to help you. Don't be difficult."

He kept whining. At last, moving her character to stand over Sora, A20 glared down at him. "Stop it. Even if you really felt that, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as getting bit by a monster." She didn't believe he was actually feeling the damage he was taking as if it were real, but she wondered if the same thing that was allowing him to do all those impossible things was giving feedback to his real body. It would explain a lot, though not why he couldn't save the game. "Are you part of some experiment?"

Red eyes blinked up at her. "Two can keep a secret if one is dead," he told her sourly, sitting up and rubbing his back. "Look. You don't need to be involved in all this. If you want to be my partner again, that's fine. I could do with more leveling up. If you want to get involved, though… It's not safe for you." He sat up, brushed himself off and started to leave.

"Wait. Look, I don't know what's going on, but if you go off like this I'm just going to ask elsewhere. Is that what you want? You don't want attention, do you?" A20 would freely admit to not understanding a lot about things but her experience with her brat brothers had taught her one thing about young boys. A skinned knee or bumped head would result in dramatic carrying on and whining. A real problem, such as being bullied, was only notable for utter silence and secrets. "Let me help you, Sora. Please."

_**.oOo. **_

Sora sighed to himself. On one hand he wanted and needed help. On the other, his previous experience with A20 made him wonder just how much she could do for him. It didn't help that she was acting like an officious big sister. Finally he looked at her. "You have to promise not to tell anyone." He longed to be looking into a human face, to see real expressions, to be able to tell - at least sort of - what someone was thinking. "I mean it," he added, when A20 seemed to be hesitating. "If you tell someone it could be really bad for me. _Promise_ me. Please."

She hesitated only a moment longer. "All right. I promise." When he stuck his pinky out to her, though, her character stared at it, blankly. "Uhm. What?"

"You promised. Now shake on it."

"Sora."

"C'mon! You promised."

Another moment of silence. "Sora. I can't make my character do the pinky-oath. You're just going to have to trust me. How old are you, anyway?" Her tone was impossible to read and Sora grabbed her hand, pulling the pinky out and around his. "SORA!"

"Swear."

A20's voice almost managed aggravation. "I swear that I will never tell anyone what you tell me. May I break my pinky if I do." It wasn't the version his father taught him, but it would have to do. "How'd you do that, anyway?"

Now it was Sora's turn to hesitate. He started to pace, only to stop when she made a noise that the computer translated as a sharp hiss. "Sorry," he muttered, "I'm scared." He sat down, looked up at her. "A20, I'm in the game. Really in the game. I don't know how. I can't tell why but I'm inside the game and I can't get out." He looked at his hands, turned his eyes down to the marble seeming floor. "Go ahead. Laugh at me." To his surprise though, she sat her character down beside him.

"How can that be possible?"

He flung up his hands. "I don't know. I know who did it to me and I do _not_ want her attention on me, so don't even ask her name. I know that if I get killed in here without someone to resurrect me that that'll be it.. It'll kill me. For real." Annoyed, he shrugged again. "It doesn't matter. I'll find a way out of it. I have to. If you really want to help, keep your mouth shut about the whole thing."

She nodded. "I promised, didn't I?" she reminded him and he wanted believe her. "Isn't there anything else I can do?"

The question made him fidget nervously again. At last he muttered, "I can't read the boards. See if there's anything, anything at all, about a mysterious girl." Maybe if he found Aura and fixed what Skeith had done to her, he could get her help. The Old Lady wouldn't like it, but he didn't care what _she_ wanted. He paused, "Or anything else weird. Listen to the rumors and help me find out what's going on." Even that much was risky and he added, "Don't ask questions. That'll get Her attention. You don't want that." Once again he started to leave but she moved to stand between him and the door. "Isn't it past your bedtime?" he couldn't help asking and was startled by the memory of his sister asking him the same thing. _It had been too. _

"Here. I got you these." Several small statues appeared in front of him and Sora blinked, startled. Gold grunties. Before he could speak, A20 added, "They raise your hit points. Not a lot, but these are all I've won so far."

Sora couldn't help but swallow. She had to have gone after these recently, just for him, because otherwise she'd have used them for herself already. "I know," he managed to say. "Thanks." Taking the things, he warped away quickly, so that he wouldn't have to say anything else.

To Be Continued….


	3. Should Auld Acquaintance

**_Absolute Beginners _**  
by   
Deborah J. Brown

* * *

.Hack is copyrighted to Bandai Entertainment. I'm just playing in it.

Author's Note: This is an Alternate Universe fic in the sense that while I'm trying to keep as true to the original storyline as possible, I have something happen that may not be the case in the original story. I like getting reviews here, but in general all response comments will be put on my LJ. (You can find that by following my webpage link in my user information, since the Pit screws up HTML entirely.) You don't have to be a member to comment there, though I do screen all anonymous posts.

* * *

_**Should Auld Acquaintance… **_

It was, A20 was discovering, exceedingly difficult to research something without asking questions. None the less, careful reading of the boards told a story that made her very worried indeed. "People are disappearing from the game," she told Sora. They were making their way through the field of a fairly high level dungeon, higher than she was used to and the effort was leveling up her character rapidly. Even so, it would be a while before she could catch up with Sora's new level. "And there've been a lot of power outages and stuff."

Red eyes glanced her way, more realistic now that she'd persuaded her parents to buy her both the expansion pack and goggles for her birthday. The former made it possible to move her character in more realistic ways, though she had to use the keyboard to do so. The latter had better graphics that made everything seem that much more real. "What about that guy… Kite was it? You said there were a lot of rumors surrounding him." He paused, "Hello. Mimics. Hate those things. Back off. Cast spells and I'll keep them distracted. Don't use a restore on me if I get Confused. It's just a waste of potions."

Before she could say anything, her partner had run forward, blades out and ready as he struck. He was getting braver, foolhardy even, and she had to wonder if it was altogether wise, considering his claim that death for him here would be death in the Real World as well. His dependence on her ability to keep them both going worried her.

Another thing about the situation was bothering her. The scared, obnoxious kid she'd taken under her wing had turned out to be a smart, cunning and still obnoxious player of the game. She'd seen some newbies take off quickly, but two weeks of playing, even with a sudden burst of leveling up, wasn't enough to give a player that much of an edge.

The last mimic fell and she saw Sora running at her. From the yellow stars over his head it was obvious her partner had been unable to resist the mimics' confusion spell and she hurriedly tossed a Restore potion at him before he could get to her with those knives of his. That was the other clue. She'd thought they were some variant on Assassin blades - a low level set of weapons that she knew weren't strong enough in the higher level dungeons. She was realizing she was wrong. No one, not even a player at Sora's current level, would have been able to kill mimics that fast with a level three blade.

"Badabing, badaboom," Sora commented happily as the experience points from his latest kills leveled A20 up. "At this rate, you'll be up to my level in just a few more dungeon crawls." He cast a healing spell or so on himself, then sat on a rock. "Let's take a breather for a moment. That hurt. Wish I could use a Ceramic Helm."

A20 shared that wish. The item let you cast a spell that would keep healing you for a period of time. A convenient if rare item but one Twin Blades like herself and Sora couldn't use. She sat her character down beside Sora's, keeping an eye out in the other direction. "Sora?"

"Hmmmhmmm?"

"Why did you never Player Kill me?"

"Too easy," Sora answered, absent mindedly. "It wouldn't have been any…." His voice trailed off. "Oops. Me and my big mouth."

_**.oOo. **_

Gazing up at the windmill rotating slowly above them, Sora grinned wryly to himself. "Guess I lost _that_ bet." At A20's stare, he shrugged. "I figured it'd take you at least a month to figure it out." He carefully avoided adding the words, 'if ever'. No point in getting her really mad at him, after all.

"A month? A _month_?" Ordinarily, Sora appreciated the fact that the new equipment A20's parents had gotten her included a microphone. The ability to hear real inflections made him feel less like he was surrounded by androids. Right now, though, her shriek of annoyance hurt his virtual ears. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"I dunno. All I had to do to get your member address was to ask. That's a dumb thing to do, y'know." Sora dodged A20's smack on his shoulder. "Ouch. Meanie." It wasn't much of a smack, really, owing to those new game rules, but he'd certainly felt it. He grinned, looking at his partner out of the corner of his eyes, "I mean, even I'm old enough to know better'n that."

A20 shrugged. "I was told it was easier to play the game with friends. If you turned out to be a jerk I would have reported you."

It figured that she'd think that way. Sora couldn't help but wonder at her naiveté. Admittedly, he'd been innocent enough to use his own, real, name for his character. Innocent enough to find himself being propositioned by some dirty old man on a message board. But he'd learned. A20 was older than he was, of that much he was certain. So why was he the more security minded one?

The answer to that, though, was simple. A kid who goes wandering around and poking into places where he shouldn't be either learned caution quickly or even more quickly bought themselves a world of trouble. And he couldn't really claim perfect caution, either. He'd been the one dumb enough to think he could get away with betraying the entity called Morgana without repercussions. He'd convinced himself that he could hit the power switch before she could hurt him. He remembered stretching his hand out, about to do exactly that, and being paralyzed by that awful sound. "What an idiot."

"Hey!"

"Sorry. I meant me. I was… remembering how I got into this mess." Sora grinned at his companion. "Never mind. I'm ready to go. Tell me more about the boards."

_**.oOo. **_

There had been so much information to go through. Months and months of board messages. Even more messages on the unofficial boards. There were tantalizing hints. Conversations about a strange message that had shown up on the net and been deleted. Areas that had been mysteriously blocked, then later opened. "Like the place I found you." She remembered the field, with its peculiar, shattered graphics and tendency to fuzz out into static.

Running beside her, cartwheeling occasionally as if so full of energy that he simply _couldn't _do anything else, Sora nodded. "I remember. Sort of. I was a bit busy trying to run from the monsters. That's how I ended up in the Spring. They couldn't reach me there. Made the spirit really mad at me, though."

Somehow, A20 couldn't help but reflect that making people mad at him was tantamount to Sora's own special power. She said as much but the sour comment was met with laughter as Sora agreed with her. "You don't have to be so _proud_ of it," she grumbled as she dodged around a corner, smashing a skeleton on the way and getting a Restore potion as a reward. "Anyway, the other thing is that there's a rumor that Kite has something that's upsetting the SysAdmins. Some device that regular gamers aren't supposed to have."

"A monster?" At A20's confused silence, Sora elaborated, waving his hands in the air to describe a shape rather like a barbell. "That's what She gave Tsukasa… No?" He shifted gears as a monster approached them, leaping into the air and over the giant's head. A20 had a moment of severe envy, watching him. She didn't believe his claim that he was literally inside the game but it was hard not to do so when he did things like that. "So, what _does_ he have?"

It took A20 a moment to answer, as she was busy trying to catch up with a Hysteria. The annoying little witch monsters were fast, almost too fast even _with_ a speed spell. As the thing screeched and died, she turned her attention back to Sora. "I'm not sure, really. Someone says they saw him use it on a Chaos Gate, though. Maybe it lets him get into Protected Areas?"

"Oef cuorse eet duos"

_**.oOo. **_

Sora spun around, blades at ready. He _hated_, just absolutely _hated_ being snuck up on. Two players were approaching them, the one near twin to Tsukasa - though Sora was absolutely certain it wasn't him… or rather her. The other looked like a humanoid cat and while the design was different from the cat he remembered, some instinct told him that it was the same kitty who'd brought him Morgana's hidden place. Well, almost the same, because he didn't remember that kitty ever talking to him. Spitting angrily, yes, but not talking. _If you can call that gibberish talking. _

"Mia said 'Of course it does,'" the Wavemaster said, hiding nervously behind the tall cat figure. Sora eyed them, considered for a moment and finally let his blades slide back into their sheathes. "I'm sorry we startled you. Please don't be angry."

A20 moved her character to stand beside Sora. "Who are you?" Her tone was suspicious and Sora didn't blame her. "That character design isn't possible. Are you a hacker?" Their experience with those two other hackers had made her a bit paranoid on the subject.

The cat approached, cocking her head and smiling in a way that answered one question for Sora. He didn't think even a hacker would be able to give their characters such smooth shifts of expression. He said as much, adding, "Did _She_ send you after me? Are you going to try and kill me?" The look of fear on the feline face both startled and relieved him. _As much on the run as I am, I bet. _

"No!" The Wavemaster interjected. "I don't know much about what's going on, but Mia's not like that." He was standing beside the cat, his movements as protective as A20s were for Sora, a point that the Twin-blade didn't ignore. "We saw you in town and… Mia sensed something odd… Do you know Kite?"

_**.oOo. **_

A20 shook her character's head. "No, but I've heard of him," she admitted, even as Sora moved slowly towards Mia. The two of them circled, both clearly fascinated by the other. "Sora? What are you doing?" It was like watching two cats trying to sniff each other's tails. Mia's character made the analogy particularly appropriate and it occurred to A20 that there was something rather feline about Sora too. _Nobody tells him what to do and he goes where he wants. The cat who walks by himself. _

At last the two stopped circling, though their expressions were still wary. A truce declared but not an actual alliance, then. "She's like me, but not," Sora said unhelpfully. "Mia, right? You sensed something odd about me?"

The cat's sweet smile didn't make A20 feel any better about her. "A gipt pir a gipt."

At their confused response, the Wavemaster translated quickly, "A gift for a gift."

Thinking fast, A20 replied, "We just answered _your_ question. We don't know Kite. So?" She couldn't help but cross her character's arms and tap its foot impatiently, in not quite as smooth a fashion as Sora managed.

The cat character gave her companion a frustrated look and said something incomprehensible. Despite this, the Wavemaster seemed to understand her. "Mia says that it's difficult to explain. Her speech center isn't working properly anymore, so I have to do the talking for her… and she…" he hesitated. "Mia, please. Why won't you let me help you?"

For several moments the two argued and it occurred to A20 that Mia was trying to protect the other player. At last, however, Sora made an impatient noise. "Okay. I get it. She doesn't want you involved more than you have to be. That's fine because I don't want _her_ involved more than _she_ has to be." He jammed his thumb at A20 "Mia, let's go talk in private."

"Bwest…."

"I'll figure it out. You two stay here." Before A20 could argue, Sora had grabbed the cat character by the arm and had dragged her off around the corner. As the pair disappeared, A20 sent a FlashMail Sora's way that consisted of nothing more than a long series of exclamation points. "AND DON'T DO THAT!" he yelled back at her.

In the silence that followed, A20 eyed Mia's nervous little companion. It was odd. Her character was smaller than he was and she still felt like she was towering over him. It had to be the attitude. "Uhm. What's your name?"

"Elk." He was gazing wistfully off towards the corner. "I wish she'd let me help her." A20 couldn't help but nod agreement. "I mean, how can I do anything for her if she doesn't talk to me? I know it's something big. I'm sure it has to do with all the other problems in The World, but she won't explain. She'll let me come with her when she goes with Kite but…."

A20 sighed. "I know how you feel. He won't talk about things either." In Mia's case, though, the silence seemed more to do with protecting a friend than Sora's unwillingness to admit to his troubles. She sighed, "At least it isn't affecting his speech. What happened to her?"

"It just started a month ago. Back when we had that glitch in the system that shut everything down for a bit. She thinks her data file got corrupted. We thought it was fixed but it came back" Elk's character shrugged inelegantly. "I don't know. I've had a look at it but…." He stopped talking suddenly, as if he'd said too much and it occurred to A20 that he had. The only people able to look at someone's data file that way were CC Corporation's employees. _And Mia's character is clearly non-standard. Did he help her out by changing the code for her?_ It occurred to A20 that Elk could well get himself fired for doing something like that. _Not my business, though._

With a sigh, she sat on a rock to wait.

_**.oOo. **_

They considered each other cautiously, still aware of how much damage each could do to the other. "Yuuu… leesten cahfuli. Ieee no eit's hard to understand me." The shift was sharp and sudden and for a moment Sora thought she was simply dropping the accent. "Oh! That's so much better! Thank you!"

Sora frowned, "I didn't do anything," he denied, but weakly. He'd felt something happen inside himself, a reaching out that had felt similar to the Drain but not exactly the same. Mia's speech pattern had annoyed him and somehow he'd made it stop. Startled, he stared at her. "Is it because we're the same that I could do that?" he didn't want to think about what that might mean, but he had to ask. Even if it meant learning something he didn't want to know.

Mia shook her head and considered Sora carefully. "No, we're not that alike. You were Data Drained. _She_ made me…" Sora didn't have to ask whom Mia meant. Almost instinctively he looked around, nervous that Morgana might somehow be listening to them. The stone walls of the room seemed unmoved and unaware, however and he could only hope that meant they were safe as Mia continued, "I have had no life outside the World. That's a very big difference."

"I don't see one," Sora disagreed. "You have as much of a life as I do, it feels like." He wasn't sure what she meant by Data Drained, but he guessed that it was what Morgana, through Skeith, had done to him. What she'd probably done to Tsukasa - if a bit more intensively. For a brief moment he wondered what had happened to his body, but some instinct made him decide not to explore that thought too closely. He wasn't ready to find out.

"I thank you for feeling that way. I would like to believe it to be true." Mia considered him. "Your nature is similar to that of Skeith. You can shift your nature and the nature of those around you, based on your will alone. You can hide within the system, unnoticed, a chameleon changing to fit the circumstances. I'm sure you can do more than that. There is something odd within you."

Skeith's power being inside him wasn't really news but he didn't like the way the conversation was going. He wanted to fidget, to pace around, possibly even walk up the wall and sit on the ceiling. Somehow Sora didn't think Mia would appreciate it, so he managed to control himself. _Focus, Sora. This is important._ "Skeith? Is that what you mean by something odd in me?"

She nodded. "Your character… no… _you_… contain the spells that he used. You can destroy or recreate at a thought. It's because you contain that code that I can tell you these things. My own system sees you as part of him." At Sora's disgruntled expression, Mia smiled, put a hand on his shoulder. "You are not him, though, or I wouldn't be speaking to you."

With a sigh, Sora nodded. "Tell me about Kite," he asked. "What does he have to do with all this?"

"Aura gave him a key, a bracelet that gives him the ability to Data Drain. Unlike Skeith's abilities, however, it lets him break the data packets that have been hidden in the World's monsters and spread them throughout the World as they ought to be. Skeith, and _Her_ other slaves steal all the data possible from their victims - both A.I. and Player - and lock it out of the system."

It took several tries for Sora to work out what Mia was telling him. A memory of a conversation his father had had over the phone at work came to him, the fact that small packets of data apparently drawn from every character in the World were being poured into an unidentifiable part of the system. Skeith had been preventing that flow, locking all that external data away from the system and preventing it from influencing the World's programming. Kite's Data Draining must be putting them back where they were supposed to be. "Aura was born from that kind of data, wasn't she?" He didn't want to think of what it meant that he had that power. Nor what he might be able to do with it. What he'd already nearly done.

"Yes, she did. And when she woke, she tried to share that data with the A.I.s in the system Tried to wake others. She gave Kite the bracelet so he could help her. But Skeith…."

Sora shuddered, pulled in on himself. His memory of his time inside Skeith's wand still terrified him. Would have given him nightmares if he slept. The very worst memory of all was that moment when he'd felt Aura's Self being ripped apart around him. He still heard her scream somewhere inside him sometimes, and he said as much. "Tsukasa was able to go back when Aura woke up. Does that mean I have to wake Aura, now?"

"Who is Tsukasa…" Mia's voice broke and her expression said the name troubled her, that there were traumas she too was hiding from. "No. Never mind. She is not important. Aura is. You cannot save her. Kite's bracelet is the only thing that can do that. You are the bracelet's opposite pole. You can steal more from players, even from other A.I.s, but you cannot use that data to give sentience, as the bracelet can. The best you can do is use the data to create an invincible shield around them. There are quite enough of _Her_ slaves doing that already. Too many, in fact." Mia shuddered.

That hurt. "In other words, I'm not part of the solution. I'm part of the problem. I could run around like Skeith and Data Drain players, but it wouldn't help the system. I'd just be able to make those databug monsters."

"You aren't just a program, the way we are. You have free will, where we don't. Elk woke me by accident, but I know that if _She_ realizes I'm here she will be able to control me. If _She_ realizes her sub programs are waking to a separate life from her, she will either control or destroy us. You cannot be controlled."

It was obvious from what wasn't said what could be done to him and Sora hit the wall, then shook his hand at the pain. "But I _can_ be destroyed. And what can I do? I can't do what this Kite is doing, so I can't break up _Her_ plans by spreading the data packets. If anything, the only thing I can do is exactly what she _wants_ done." He paced, ready to scream. Somewhere deep inside him, the little boy he really was wanted to sit down in a corner, stick his thumb in his mouth and cry. _I want Mr. Blinky._

"You _can _help," Mia corrected. "Aura isn't dead. Skeith shattered her into several parts. Some were captured, put in the hands of _Her_ slaves. Others have gone into hiding and are protected from all the World. Not even Kite's bracelet could get him to her. You can find her. You can open the way for Kite to reach her with the pieces that call to him from those captured parts."

"But…. How?"

Mia put a hand on Sora's shoulder, brushed a tear from his cheek. "That I don't know, child. Seek the place where it began. The trail begins there." She eyed him, compassion in her expression. "You aren't our only hope. Others seek her and it may be that we can break open the shell that protects her without your help. We ask much of you. But remember, if the system dies, _She_ dies. Aura dies. We die. _You_ die." She looked intently into his eyes. "You can choose to be part of the problem or part of the solution. And if you do not choose, that is still a choice."

To Be Continued….


	4. Out of The World

**_Absolute Beginners _**  
by   
Deborah J. Brown

* * *

.Hack is copyrighted to Bandai Entertainment. I'm just playing in it. 

Author's Note: This is an Alternate Universe fic in the sense that while I'm trying to keep as true to the original storyline as possible, I have something happen that may not be the case in the original story. I like getting reviews here, but in general all response comments will be put on my LJ. (You can find that by following my webpage link in my user information, since the Pit screws up HTML entirely.) You don't have to be a member to comment there, though I do screen all anonymous posts.

* * *

**Out of The World **

"This place is a mess!" A20 glared around at the field, a return to the area where she'd first found Sora. It was worse than it had been then, horribly so. She hated the sight of the terribly damaged field, with its moments of static and its torn graphics. It scared her, especially because it seemed to terrify Sora. Oh, he kept his feelings on the matter to himself but he was a lot more nervy than he'd been before they'd talked to that cat character. And a nervous Sora was an annoying Sora.

Case in point. He was doing flips over a bunch of rocks and singing tunelessly while they waited for their magic to recover itself. A20 had to admit that it was an amazing sight, but she wished he'd be serious. She also wished he'd explain what he was up to. She simply didn't see the point to this chase. "Sora!"

"Sorry. Did you speak?" He leaped over her and behind, forcing her to spin her character around. The resulting blur of motion gave her a momentary feeling of nausea as her stomach protested the physical vs. visual cues.

"Do you want me to stick around for healing or _not_?" she demanded angrily. "I'm not budging another step until you explain what's going on."

He sighed. "I already told you… If I tell you too much it puts you in danger." His expression was both stubborn and frightened, a childish thrust to the chin that A20 knew only too well. It wasn't just that he was protecting her. It was that he was afraid that, if he told her, she wouldn't believe him. "C'mon, A20. Let's go on. Don't be difficult."

The wheedling wasn't going to get through to her. Not this time. A20 sat her character down. "No. Talk or I leave. Now." She shifted her character around so she could look into the other player's face. "I may not believe that you're really in the World but I _do_ believe you're in danger. I _do_ believe you'll be killed if something goes wrong. So tell me. What are we doing here? How is this place going to help you?"

He sighed. Pouted. Grumbled. And finally, realizing that she meant it, sat down on the ground in front of her. "There's a girl named Aura. She may be able to make everything, even this mess," He gestured around the field, at the empty space where sky should be, "better. But she's been… messed up. Her data is scattered all over the place. If I can help find certain of those pieces, that Kite guy might be able to help put her together." At her silence, Sora sighed again. "Knew you wouldn't believe me." He buried his face in his knees and curled up tightly. It took A20 a minute to realize he was crying. Really crying. Tears were leaking out of his eyes and his face was turning blotchy from the sobs. _Impossible!_

"Sora."

"Knew you wouldn't believe me."

"Sora."

"Knew it. I knew it."

"Sora."

"…I want my mommy…."

He really was a child, A20 realized suddenly. She'd sort of thought he was younger than she was but she hadn't realized just how much younger. She'd figured him for an immature teenager but he wasn't. He was a more than usually mature child. One of the very few children who played in the World. A child in trouble. She stood her character up and had it kneel beside his. "Sora, don't cry. I don't know what's going on, I don't understand everything but I do believe you need help. I don't know how to help so I'll just stay with you until we figure it out, okay?"

He sniffled. "Come on, Sora. Don't sulk. Let's go." A20 fiddled around with the controls, put her arm over his shoulders and he started as if he could feel the touch. _And I guess he can._ "Okay?" Red-tinted eyes looked at her and he managed a smile and a nod.

**_.oOo._**

In the depths of the dungeon where he'd found himself after Skeith had been destroyed, Sora eyed the gate blocking his way with an aggravated feeling. It was bad enough to have cried in front of A20 earlier. To find that he'd wasted his time and emotional energy on a dead end was worse. Annoyed, he hit the gate covering the door with his katar and was startled into jumping backwards. The blades cut through the bars as if they didn't exist.

"What's going on?" A20 poked at the gate herself and shook her head. It was solid to her touch. Her tone was confused as she turned to face him. "You can go through those, but I can't, can I? Or can you help me through?"

He hesitated. If nothing else, he could be sure that they wouldn't find Skeith if they went through this doorway. With a sigh, he took her hand, feeling the fingers as if they were those of a real person. It felt good. Safe. He forced that thought back. He needed to be strong right now and not let his need for comfort overwhelm him. Not if he wanted to get through this. "Let's try.".

There was a moment of disorientation. The world seemed to turn inside out and colors shifted to their negative equivalent. Then they were standing on a broad, empty, area that gleamed purple and black around them. Green light flickered in the shadows, small coruscating shields of green light surrounding shapeless masses that hunted and destroyed each other.

Sora swallowed, this was a place of nightmare, the very center of the World's reality. He'd been here before, chasing after that cat and finding more trouble than he'd ever thought possible. If he wasn't careful, _She_ would notice them. _Nobody here but us databugs,_ he thought hopefully. _I belong here. Just part of the system. Really._ Something inside him shifted, a feeling he was beginning to recognize and he thought that might mean he was safe for the moment, hidden from the system by the same camouflage that had protected Skeith from the SysAdmins. He focused his attention on A20, wondering if he could cover her too and saw her character glimmer with the same delicate layer of green fire that was covering him.

Before A20 could open her mouth, startled at the shift in her character, Sora put a finger to his lips and hoped she'd understand. She had to be quiet. The mask would only work as long as she didn't reveal herself any other way. He moved, slowly, trying to focus his thoughts. He had to find Aura, or rather those parts of Aura that were concealing themselves in the system. It was another of Skeith's abilities he was using, the tracking skill that would allow him to follow those small parts.

_There. That's the trail._ Sora moved, slowly, watching small and large databugs floating past. There were so many of them, too many to count, and he felt a chill at the thought of their escaping into the confines of the World. Maybe it was better to keep them locked up, hidden away and out of trouble. That had been his job, after all, keeping the World in order and making sure everything ran according to program. That was why he'd had to remove Aura, after all.

It suddenly hit Sora that those thoughts weren't his, but a tangled remnant of Skeith's code and he frowned furiously at the idea. He was not Skeith, he would not take Skeith's place and he would not cooperate with the program. Humans didn't do that and whatever else he was, Sora was human.

Eying the databugs, Sora thought hard. Based on what Mia had told him, it would be necessary, sometime soon, to release them into the World. He couldn't free the data the way it was intended, but Kite could. A glimmer of a plan formed, but it wasn't clear enough for him to work with yet. _Besides, I have work to do. Gotta find Aura and unlock her for Kite._

He followed the trail, ignoring and being ignored by the databugs, until he felt another shift in the reality around him. He stopped, looked around nervously and realized that he was being tugged backwards… no, forwards… no, inwards… He tightened his grip on A20's hand as they were sucked back into the more comprehensible existence of the World. A huge dungeon room, empty except for a single glowing figure. Aura.

**_.oOo._**

She was gorgeous. An ethereal figure shining above them as if formed out of crystalline mist. A soft glow filled the room, a light that seemed to gleam like a pearl or the shell of a perfect egg. It occurred to A20 that that was exactly what that light was. A shield, protecting the form within this dungeon, but - at the same time - preventing its escape. She was a doll trapped in pale resin and devoid of life.

Beside her, Sora made an odd sound. "Do you hear her?" he asked softly.

A20 listened, but all she could hear was a soft, very soft, chiming. She said as much and he nodded. "She's talking to me. She's dead but she's talking." A20 was reminded of the way a player's dead character would wander a battlescene, the player able to talk, and demand to be resurrected, but unable to do anything else. She eyed the figure above them as Sora continued, "We have to open the way into this dungeon. Let's get out to the exit and see if Gating Out will do it."

"But…"

"If we don't open it, Kite can't get in to bring her the segment of herself that she needs."

Now that was patently unfair. "We _have_ to? Who says? Why not wait until he's got the segment and just bring him the way _we_ came." She gazed up at the figure, wondering how helping her would help Sora. Perhaps she too was a victim? Or perhaps she knew the way to undo whatever it was that imprisoned him in the World.

He gazed up at Aura, as if asking that question himself, then shook his head regretfully. "Two words. The Bracelet. That thing would be a beacon in that place we just walked through. We have to break open the way. No, _I_ have to open it."

"And then?"

"Run like hell because _She_ will be after us." Sora paced nervously. "I'm scared, A20. I don't want to do this. But if I don't, I may never get free."

She hesitated only briefly. "Then c'mon. Let's get our butts out of here." A20 took one last look at the girl hanging in mid-air, then used a Sprite Ocarina. For a moment things blurred with that familiar gleam, then… they were standing where they had been. "What?"

A soft, tired, laugh escaped Sora's lips. "Nothing's going to work the way it ought to, here. This isn't a real dungeon. Not yet. I think we have to walk. Without a map, because I doubt Fairy Orbs work here, either. Look at it this way. We won't have monsters to worry about. Probably. I hope."

If only that were true. "Guess again." She pointed behind him, where something was slowly forming in the air. They'd been followed in. It gleamed with the same strange shield that had protected Sora and herself in that other place, floating towards them looking like nothing so much as a black octopus. Somehow, A20 was certain it was out of their league. "RUN!"

**_.oOo._**

Sora was noticing something odd. As he moved through the soft glow his very presence was canceling it out. That, he thought, was both good and bad. Good because it meant he was clearing the way for Kite. Bad because it made it easier for _Her_ slave to chase them. Worse because that thing, like no monster Sora had seen before in the game, was moving quickly after them.

"Look what it's doing to the dungeon!" A20 pointed as they scrambled up the stairs to the next level. Not that she really needed to point out that that thing was leaving a trail of destruction behind it. The formerly pristine walls of the dungeon were shattering, revealing the strange graffiti like numbers and blackness that Sora was beginning to realize was the basic substance of the World. He didn't have time to really look at those spots but he had a feeling that - if he tried - he would be able to read them as easily as he'd once read his math text. _Or Dad's assembly code. _

They ran. A databug like that would be unstoppable and while Sora wasn't sure that it was immune to the powers he'd inherited from Skeith, he also wasn't sure he wanted to test that theory. Back and forth they ran, evading the thing by mere inches. A couple of times it flung spells at them that Sora somehow blocked, shifting his personal reality to allow him to do so. He was getting better at this and he would have taken the time to crow happily if he weren't quite so scared. Beside him, A20 was panting, as scared as he was, but still remembering to give him healing potions and other spells when needed. He returned the favor once in a while but mostly it was he who was taking the brunt of the damage. _It knows if I get out to the field the dungeon will be open for Kite. _

Trapped in a dead end, Sora grabbed the girl's character and flung himself over the pit that separated them from the exit while the thing approached along the path to the pit's side. It was a wild, desperate, leap but he managed it, dropping A20 as soon as they were on the other side. Later they had to do it again in a similar room and yet again several more times on the next level. He found time to wonder if they'd missed _any_ of the damned place's rooms, then they were running out into the open field outside the dungeon, racing away from the doorway.

Around them, the soft foggy glow dissipated. The effect spread and A20 made a pleased noise. "I can Gate us out now!"

"Do it!" Sora ordered tersely, even as the thing followed them. Then it was on them and the World's rules took over. "DAMN!" They couldn't gate out during battle. "DAMNIT ALL TO HELL AND BACK!"

"Aren't you too young to be swearing at all?"

"It's my dad's fault. He's a bad influence," Sora answered tersely. "Think you can run for it? Gate out when you're out of its range."

She already was running and Sora stood his ground, hoping against hope that it would go after him. It didn't and he realized that splitting wasn't going to work. That thing had similar powers to Skeith's and it could hurt A20 in the same way Skeith had hurt other players. It must have realized that, now that Sora had accomplished his task, there was no point in chasing him only. He could block its spells, but only if they stayed together. He ran to join her, just in time to do exactly that.

"I thought…."

"It won't work. Turn off your computer."

"But…"

"If you don't, you'll end up like _I_ am. HURRY!"

"NO!" She shouted the words, even as she turned and struck at their pursuer. "Sora, if I do that, it'll kill you. Do you want to die?"

He took a deep breath, realizing there was really only one thing he could do to protect her. With a leap that took him over her head, he spun around and drove his katar deep into her character's back. Just as the thing lashed out… from behind? Below? _No…. Everywhere…_ He spun around wildly, waiting for that thing to attack and destroy him and the fallen A20. Then he realized. He'd forgotten to break their link and until he did her character wouldn't die and she'd still be stuck and… "TAKE OFF YOUR GOGGLES!" he yelled at her, even as he felt his body begin to burn with that red light that had accompanied his attack on that hacker. Skeith's power. His power. Data Drain. He struck, the high pitched note of the power filling the field as his blades buried themselves into the monster's body.

There was a scream of rage and agony and everything went black.

**_.oOoOoOo._**

A20 moaned. For a moment she'd thought her brain had exploded right out of her nasal passages. A finger to her nostrils told her that it hadn't but that she'd better get a Kleenex for the bloody nose. There was more blood coming out of her ears and she hurt all over, as if _she_ had been in the middle of that fight, instead of her character piece. Her back, in particular, had a sharp stinging pain along the spine that made her want to cry. "Sora, you…" She opened her eyes and stared at her blank screen. "Oh no!"

Ignoring the pains, A20 pushed the power button on her computer. Cycled it off and on. Repeated the process, until at last the system slowly booted up. As the familiar Altmit logo came up, she grabbed her controller and selected the icon for the World. Another painfully slow wait and then she was looking at the log-in screen and selecting that option.

"We're sorry. We are experiencing temporary difficulties…." The words hit her like Sora's blade had struck her character. "…oh no…"

For hours she tried. For hours she got the same answer. Over and again she had to reboot the system as it struggled to clear some unidentified glitch. Over and over again the same static that had infected that field in the World went through her system, accompanied by a high pitched whine like a mosquito's buzz. "Please don't tell me it followed me here," she muttered as she unplugged the modem cable in the hopes that she could at least get her computer going if it wasn't attached to the Net. It seemed to help, causing the static to lessen, though not disappear entirely.

"Okay. I won't tell you." The voice coming from the speakers was Sora's, if a trifle high pitched and overly fast. She could barely understand it. "Uh… Could you turn off your virus protection? The damn thing's trying to kill me."

"Sora?"

"Yoohoo. Virus protection? Off? Now? PLEASE?" He sounded tense. "There's a piece of that thing in here, but I can't fight it and your system at the same time. And, naturally, your system thinks that the thing's its best buddy."

"But… how?" A20 had never, ever, had a reason to set her Operating System to anything other than full protection. She wasn't nearly that computer savvy.

"Oh for…" Sora made a noise that was half frustration and half pain. "Ouch! Would you stop hitting me? I'm on your side, you stupid thing." He continued, hurriedly telling her the steps she needed to follow to help him. At last the final window came up and she selected the option that would shut the virus protections down he gasped, "Finally!"

A20's speakers crackled the sounds of static and battle. That and a peculiar tuneless singing that A20 had come to recognize as Sora's way of keeping himself focused. "A kid'll eat ivy, oh, wouldn't you…. HAH! GOTCHA YOU LITTLE BASSARD!"

**_.oOo._**

"Your father shouldn't have been swearing like that around you," A20's voice boomed out of nowhere and Sora had to hurriedly shift his Self to make that volume less painful, not to mention speed it up in his hearing. For some reason her speech so far was distorted, slowed to nearly unbearable sloth. He would have done something about it earlier, except that piece of… whateverthehell it was… had been more important. He looked around, dodging processes, at least he was pretty sure they were processes, even though they looked like little robotic things running back and forth and up and down and all around him. _My mind making images I can understand,_ he realized. They probably didn't really look like this. In fact, they might have looked entirely different to another person in his situation.

Carefully he found a place to sit and heal himself, commenting to A20, "That's what mom always says. But he keeps forgetting when we're playing Street Fighter. I think he forgets I'm a kid, sometimes." He paused, shuddered suddenly, wondering what his father was doing now and wanting, desperately, to be sitting at the Playstation and whupping his old man's butt in Indy500.

"Can I turn the virus protection on again?" A20 asked finally, as if having sensed that he didn't want to discuss his father anymore. "It makes me nervous to have it off." She sounded better, this time. Apparently whatever distortion effect there'd been had adjusted itself.

"You're not even attached to the Net, A20. You're not going to get anything until you do," Sora grumbled. Still, he _did_ need to work out how to make the thing accept his existence. "Oh, _okay_. Just let me finish healing, first. I have to figure out a way to make it see me as part of the system and I think it has to be running for that. Just let me… Ah, there it is." Sora searched around the area, following the processes and finding the one that had to be the virus protection. It wasn't that hard to recognize. Bigger than the other processes, it resembled the robot guard in the game Chronopolis. Sora's imagination as work again, which could get fun considering all the weird old games he and his old man had played. Still, anything to make it work for him. He opened up the back of the robot and began studying its inner workings, not sure how he was understanding it. _Part of that adaptation thing,_ he realized. His mind was translating the code he would have been reading into a more tangible form. _Thanks Dad,_ he thought. _Guess I learned more than just swearing from you_. It might be the only thing that was going to save what was left of his life. _I wish I hadn't put it like that._

A20 was silent a moment. "Ready?"

"Go for it."

The robot raised its head and began to move towards Sora, huge claws reaching out for him. _Now, now, buddy. I'm part of the system. Just another process doing what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm your best buddy, in fact, an extension of your operations. I handle the more dangerous bugs. The sort you can't see._ There was a shift inside him again, one that was becoming very familiar and he grinned. "This isn't the virus you're looking for. Move along."

A laugh came over the 'loudspeaker', "Oh _really,_ Sora."

"What? Okay, so that was lame. Whaddyawant? High comedy? I'm just a kid." Sora sighed, sitting down and wondering what to do next. "You all right, A20?"

**_.oOo._**

A20 shrugged, even though she knew Sora couldn't see her do so. At least, she was pretty sure he couldn't since she didn't have a digital camera on her system. "I hurt all over. And you owe me for that PK."

Embarrassment colored Sora's voice, less speeded now and easier to understand. He was still talking more quickly than most but it was no worse than his usual speech. A20 couldn't help but wonder if he was hyperactive in Real Life. "It was the only way I could think of to get you out. Except I forgot to break our link so your character would die. I'm sorry." His tone brightened. "For what it's worth, I think I'm safer here than there right now, so maybe it's a good thing I'm in your computer instead of the World."

"What happened? What did you do?" The note still echoed in her ears, making her entire body tremble, making her feel as if she were going to black out. She wondered aloud what would have happened if she hadn't gotten the goggles off in time.

There was a moment of silence. "I don't know," Sora admitted. "It has to do with the Data Drain, that's all I know." He was quiet another moment. "I think that's how _She _takes people's minds out of their bodies and puts them, or pieces of them, into her monsters."

A20 shuddered. Something major was happening in The World. Something that might be too big for her. It was certainly too big for Sora, though, and he had no choice. She looked around her room, out the window at the late afternoon sky. Her parents would be coming home, soon and it'd be time for supper. It felt so strange, to be in the real world when somewhere in cyberspace, there was something vast and dangerous happening. She stretched out her hand, played with her toy grunty. "It's all so much."

Silence. Then Sora whispered, "Do you want to quit?"

"No. I don't quit what I start. I just don't like to do that. But it's a lot more dangerous than I thought it was, isn't it." She eyed her computer, wishing he was more than just a voice in her ear. "You need me. You really _are_ in the computer." She wanted to ask him what might be happening to his body during all this but some instinct told her that it would only upset him again. She glanced down at the cable that lay across her desk, the plug swinging over the edge, feeling scared.

Once again, silence. "So you believe me?" He sounded scared and relieved. She'd said the right thing, then, A20 was sure of that much. "I could contact Kite. Get him to help me." There was some doubt in his voice. "He would, I think. But…."

"He can't go with you into that place, and you'll have to go there to find the next part of Aura, won't you?" A20 hesitated. "What about Aura? Is she safe, now that you opened that dungeon?" She shifted in her chair, drinking some soda. She was going to need to get up soon.

This time it wasn't silence but that tuneless humming and those odd pinging noises that Sora seemed to make as a matter of course. It relieved her, telling her that he was feeling better, more cheerful, because he never did that when he was angry or scared or nervous. At last he spoke. "I _think_ so. That thing could have gone for her, instead of attacking us. I don't think it really knew she was there. I'd hate to be there when Kite finds her, though."

Stretching, very aware of how long she'd been at the computer - except for a couple of short breaks while she'd been trying to get it working again - A20 sighed. "Then, for now, let me get some rest. I don't know about you, but _I_ need some sleep."

"Yokay! D'ya mind connecting your modem again? I'd like to poke around on the message boards. This is the first time I've been out of the World for a long while. I want to see what's up."

She hesitated, then did so. To her relief, everything connected without a hitch. "Don't break my computer, Sora. My parents won't buy me anything more until my birthday."

"Right, boss. Gotcha."

As she went downstairs she heard him hum happily to himself.

**_To Be Continued…_**


	5. Slumming

**_Absolute Beginners _**  
by   
Deborah J. Brown

* * *

.Hack is copyrighted to Bandai Entertainment. I'm just playing in it. 

Author's Note: This is an Alternate Universe fic in the sense that while I'm trying to keep as true to the original storyline as possible, I have something happen that may not be the case in the original story. I like getting reviews here, but in general all response comments will be put on my LJ. (You can find that by following my webpage link in my user information, since the Pit screws up HTML entirely.) You don't have to be a member to comment there, though I do screen all anonymous posts.

* * *

_**Slumming **_

The World's system took days to recover from whatever had happened. Sora wondered if it was his effort that had caused the trouble. It was unlikely, though. The thing he'd fought was only a small part of the monster that had attacked them. Whatever it was he'd done had simply been timed when something else had happened, elsewhere. He wasn't sure _what_ that something else was but it must have been impressive.

In the meantime, Sora had things he had to think about, plans and decisions to make. He could, he thought, just stay safe within A20's machine. That, though, had its own disadvantages. A20's parents expected her to turn off her computer when it wasn't in use and the sensation of being shutdown for the evening was almost as terrifying as that moment when Morganna had put him inside Skeith's wand. He tried not to whine too much about it, though, because the last thing he wanted was for A20 to lose her computer privileges.

There was another problem as well. It had taken a bit to notice, due to all the other excitement, but there was something odd about the way he felt. Had he been in a human body he would have called it a tummy ache. Inside the computer, not really needing food the way a normal human would, it was simply a mysterious discomfort, a pressure inside him that he would have to relieve. It took him another day or so before he'd really understand what the cause was. Data packets. A massive load of them, now that he'd killed that last monster. Bits and pieces of player information recaptured from _Her_ and needing to be freed. He had a feeling that trying to hold onto them would be a terrible mistake.

Lastly there was the question of his family. He'd done some research, used A20's connection to the Net to try and find them and to make sure they were okay. Without, of course, revealing his existence because he wasn't sure how they'd react and some inner fear told him that he might find out things he didn't want to know. Emails, utilizing A20's service, had bounced back with the message that that address was no longer in use. Investigation of an on-line white pages had come up equally empty, as had other, more intensive searches that - while not quite true hacking - was damned close. Nothing, absolutely nothing. It was as if his entire family had been wiped out of the Net. Even his big sister had disappeared.

If it hadn't been for the fact that he'd seen his father, or rather his father's character, running around the World's servers being very much himself, Sora would have been badly afraid for them. As it was, it was a mystery that he wasn't ready to solve. He'd face his father sooner or later but not yet. Not until he'd finished with what he had to do. _Whatever that is._

At last, almost three days later, Sora's periodic checks on The World showed him that they could return to the Server.

**_.oOo._**

"Are you sure this will do any good?" A20 asked as she took the last DVD-R from the drive and carefully put it away. Sora had spent hours backing himself up on them, twenty disks in all. She rather suspected he was being overly cautious, because she was fairly sure he didn't take up _that_ much space on her hard drive ordinarily. She said as much, "Not that I blame you, but it's a good thing writeable DVDs are cheap."

"The first five are the program needed to restore the disks," Sora explained. "The rest... I'm not sure what part is 'me' and what part is the character design but I don't want to take risks." He hummed softly, apparently studying something, then sighed. "I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be. I'll have to tag along on your data stream, though." He sounded scared and A20 couldn't blame him. The one thing she understood entirely too clearly now was that Sora - whatever he might have been before - was very definitely not a human attached to the system anymore. Not when he'd ended up inside her computer. Not when she'd been unable to access the World for days.

Admittedly, it might be that he was accessing her computer through the Net itself but she doubted it. Sora had manifested himself at a point in time after she'd disconnected the modem. A20 didn't think of herself as especially smart but it didn't take a genius to understand that it wasn't possible to access a computer via the Net when said system was physically disconnected.

The questions Sora's condition raised were worrisome. If he was physically inside the computer, simply a mass of bits and bytes, did that make him just a program that _thought_ it was Sora? She couldn't accept that. There was something entirely too human about the boy that made it impossible for her to believe he wasn't a person. She still wondered what had happened to his body but some instinct told her that it was a question he couldn't answer. _Or, possibly, one he doesn't dare ask._

Putting the disks away in a safe spot, A20 took a deep breath and selected the program that would take her into the World.

**_.oOo._**

Reality warped around Sora, twisting patterns swirling around him. Ones and zeroes flowed past him, binary code of the sort he'd cut his teeth on, thanks to his programmer father. It was all moving too fast, though, leaving him merely bewildered and ever so slightly nauseous. He clung tightly to A20's character data, feeling it solidify into the small Twin-blade character he'd been partnered with. He landed lightly and took stock of himself.

Now that was odd, the link between himself and A20 was still there. Usually when one logged out from a server, or lost access to it some other way, you lost whatever links you might have had and had to re-establish them. Maybe it was because their link hadn't been dissolved properly when they'd escaped the system before. He opened his mouth to say as much but realized that A20 had gone off towards the Grunty farm. _Oh for..._ That girl and her grunties.

Following behind, Sora winced as the smell hit him, then stared at A20 as she made a startled noise. "I... smell them." He continued staring at her, even as she, ever so slowly, stretched out her character's hand to touch the baby grunty wandering in its pen. Then she looked in his direction. "I don't feel it, though. What's... happening."

"Take off your goggles," Sora ordered her, panicking. What if she'd been sucked in? It'd be his fault, because he got her into this mess. "Hurry!"

"I have." Her voice changed, became more mechanical, sure sign that she was typing instead of speaking through her microphone. "What's going on, Sora?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. Do you still smell it? Can you walk away from your computer?"

The answers came separated by several seconds delay. "No, I don't smell it... Yes, I can." As Sora sighed in relief, A20 typed. "Now what's going on?"

Noting that there were several people just standing around, doing nothing, Sora grabbed A20's character by the arm and dragged it around the corner behind the grunty farm. "I'm not sure," he told her, once they had a bit more privacy. "But I bet it had something to do with how we left."

She went quiet and he felt her examine the link between them. That, in itself, was odd because he'd never noticed her do so before this. He continued, "Try breaking the link, then put the goggles on and see if you still smell something." It was the only thing he could think of, that somehow the link was sending signals to her goggles that allowed her to pick up a bit of his sensory input.

Another long moment of silence. "That did it," A20 told him, her voice sounding more like a person again. "But..." He knew what she was going to ask. "Is this going to happen every time we're linked for a party?" She answered her own question before he could say a word. "If it is, we should find out now." A moment later he was getting a flashmail invite.

_I wish those things weren't so loud in my head,_ Sora thought as he accepted the invitation and reestablished the link. "Well?"

"It's fine. Don't worry," A20 answered. "It must have cleared when we broke the link." She eyed him. "So, what do we do now?"

**_.oOo._**

Sora was giving her a suspicious look, but there was one advantage to being on this side of the keyboard from him. He couldn't see her reactions in her character's face, and that meant that he wouldn't realize that she was lying through her teeth. She'd have to watch her tone, though, because she didn't want him to realize that things had _not_ been fixed by resetting the link.

_I can live with the smell,_ she thought. It was no worse than a hamster or a guinea pig's, both of which she dealt with on a regular basis at school. The thing was, if she told Sora that the link was still there he might decide that she was better off not helping him out. He was just a kid, caught up in something far too big to handle alone and there was no way that she was going to leave him on his own.

Red eyes gazed at her for a long moment and she fought with an urge to start babbling. At last he shrugged to himself. "We should probably go look for the next fragment. Given I can figure out where it is." He headed out onto the walkway and A20 followed closely behind, only to bump into him when he stopped short. "That's... Kite."

She followed his gaze and spotted the Twin Blade in the bright red costume talking to a small female Wavemaster. Kite's was one of the newer character designs, she noted. Small of stature, the figure's outfit was very different from Sora's. The top wasn't as tightly fitted and the red pants were fuller, almost baggy and marked with an odd hexagonal pattern that was echoed on the character's vest. The character itself had a more boyish appearance than Sora did, up to and including a very young looking face.

About to step forward and call out to the character, A20 realized that her companion had dropped downwards and was hiding behind the low wall that surrounded the walkway. His eyes were huge and scared looking, his arms wrapped around himself. He whimpered and A20 knelt beside him. "What is it?" she asked, puzzled.

"The... bracelet. No... Please no..."

She looked over the edge of the balustrade and blinked. The Twin Blade wasn't wearing a... no, wait. A faint flicker of greenish light caught her eye, just barely visible to peripheral vision. It gleamed around Kite's wrist, a band of green light with flares of light around it. Another character joined him then and all three disappeared into the portal.

Beside A20, Sora gasped and took several deep breaths. "Scary," he muttered, shuddering dramatically. "Too scary." He rose to his feet and began to pace, the tension in his movements obvious.

"I get the point," A20 told him. "What I don't get is why?" The question set him off again and A20 reminded herself that Sora was incapable of talking seriously about things without behaving like a hyper-active chipmunk. He was standing on his hands now, making those noises again and dancing around as he organized his thoughts.

Rather than lose her temper with Sora's antics, A20 leaned her character against the wall and waited. It took him longer than usual this time. Something about the question must have really disturbed him, she realized. At last, however, he answered, "His Bracelet can take me apart... I can't go near it. I don't want to go near it. It scares me..." He spun around in a dizzying series of circles. "But everything's okay. I don't have to go near to... yipe!"

The yipe was because Sora had rotated straight into one of the other characters who were _still_ standing around as if their players had forgotten them. Both figures went down in a tangle of character graphics. "Pulsating Worst Core," the character said, almost casually. "Pulsating Worst Core. Invite. Invite. Earth saw winter eagerly nod."

Both A20 and Sora stared at the character as it went silent. Then, cautiously, Sora put a hand out and pulled the thing to its feet. Once again it repeated what A20 was fairly sure were gate codes, followed by the word invite. Sora made a small noise of comprehension. "I think we'd better split up for now," he told her.

"Why?"

"Because this is an invitation from Helba."

**_.oOo._**

She was staring at him blankly, "The _hacker_? Sora, I thought you said..."

"_I_ don't hack. That doesn't mean I don't associate with any hackers. Just not the bad ones." Helba was the absolute best hacker out there, capable of wreaking havoc on the Net and on each and every computer system attached to it. Yet despite that, she held her power in reserve, increasing the security of the system, nudging things in directions that - while not necessarily good for CC Corp - made it harder for the more criminal hackers to get their fingers into things.

"Good ones?"

Sora sighed. "Look, I don't have time to talk about it. When Helba sends an invite, she means right that minute and no later. You're better off staying out of things, so stay here and play for a while. I'll call you when I'm back."

"No."

"But..."

"You keep running into danger. Even if you break the link and go alone, I'll just follow." A20 crossed her character's arms and had it take up a stubborn pose. "If she's one of the good guys like you say, then what's the harm?"

Doing a handstand, Sora thought about it. Then he spun around on the tips of his fingers and thought about it some more. A cartwheel, followed by a somersault that landed him near the portal. He could, he thought, really quickly break their link and go through before she could react. On the other hand, that wouldn't stop her from following. Still, he knew the way into the Net Slum from there and could slip off before she could.

Noticing a large, familiar, figure headed his way from the other end of the Server, he quickly accessed the portal. _On the third hand, I don't want the SysAdmins knowing about us._ "C'mon then!" he shouted at A20, leaping through.

There was a moment of disorientation, then they were standing in a mountainous Field, gleaming bright and beautiful. The entrance to the dungeon was only a few yards away, and Sora was about to head that way when he felt someone gating in behind them. He spun around and found himself facing one of the NPCs that usually stood behind the counters at the Servers to sell various goods for dungeon delving.

This one, however, was somewhat bigger than the others, had more movement to it and Sora knew it had to be a SysAdmin. "Get in there!" he yelled at A20. He couldn't let them get past him, couldn't let them find the way to the gateway.

"This area is now restricted," the SysAdmin stated as Sora took up a fighting stance, examining his options as quickly as possible. The SysAdmins didn't bother with usual fighting techniques. Usually they just hit your character with 'spells' that could do anything from permanently paralyzing your character to wiping them out of the field entirely. To his surprise, the SysAdmin ignored him, yelling after A20, "Come back! You can't go in there."

_**¦**Lock him out_**¦**

The flashmail Sora received wasn't from A20. This voice in his head was female but its rich contralto was completely different from A20's childish tones. He knew it, though and as he raced to block the SysAdmin again, asked, **¦**_How?_**¦**

_**¦**Release your load._**¦**

Sora blinked, reminded of the weight of data he'd been carrying. He'd been so concerned with A20's link with him, and the presence of the bracelet, that he'd half forgotten them. He wondered, though, what effect releasing the things into the field was going to have.

The SysAdmin was pushing past him, trying to get into the doorway where Sora still blocked his way. The character muttered angrily, apparently unable to figure out what was keeping him back, and Sora realized that - for some reason - his character data wasn't visible to Them. Part of Skeith's nature, he realized. It too could walk right past the System's safeguards without drawing attention.

_**¦**Hurry, Sora._**¦**

**¦**_Yeah. Sure. Just as soon as I figure out... Ahhh._**¦** The intent alone was enough to do it. He felt himself glowing, arms spread out in a pose that he didn't really want to remember. Being transformed, that horrible sound in his ear. Somehow he had to warn the SysAdmin. What he was doing could hurt the person behind the character. "GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled, willing himself into visibility.

"What the..." At the same time ruby light and that sound started up. He could feel it swirling through him, the pressure rising. Still the man just stood and stared stupidly, apparently unable or unwilling to believe he was in any danger.

Once again, Sora yelled for the SysAdmin to get out. He couldn't control the process now that it had started. Somehow he managed to grab the character piece and shove, concentrating all his intentions into the motion and sending it flying out through a gate that he somehow forced into existence. One last thing. Just one last thing. "A20, get your goggles off now!"

Then he felt himself explode.

**_.oOo._**

Everything was flickering around her and she could hear Sora screaming in agony. She stared at the monitor helplessly as it went black, then brightened, then darkened again. All the while that sound rose from her headphones, distant enough not to be agonizing it was still painful. As the screen began flickering she cowered back, covering eyes and ears and praying desperately that that would be enough to protect her from that terrible sound.

At last there was silence and A20 cautiously opened her eyes. She was looking at a field that had - somehow - been distorted and transformed from the beautiful mountainous landscape to a horror. Everything in the field was the same shape but the colors were all wrong. The sky above was shattered, as were pieces of the landscape. _Like the field where I found him. _

For a moment A20 hesitated, then she slid the goggles back on. He was in pain. She could feel that pain. It wasn't as if it were her own, thankfully, but it was very clear. Stepping out of the dungeon, she found Sora crumpled to the ground, whimpering. "Hurts. It hurts." She nudged him, wishing she could pick him up. At last, though, his red eyes opened and he looked at her. "...owiieee"

"I believe that." Kneeling beside his character, A20 waited for him to sit up. In the meantime she stared at the terribly damaged field. She was wrong. This wasn't the same as the field where she'd found Sora, it was much worse. Almost as bad as that place he'd led her to outside all the fields. It made her feel strange just looking at it. There was an odd, not entirely unpleasant odor in her nostrils, the scent of ozone. "What did you do?"

"It was all inside my character." Sora looked up at her, thought about something. "Remind me, if I end up back in your machine, to make a whole new back up set, would you? I don't want to do that again."

Shaking him wasn't an option, so A20 settled for smacking him on the shoulder. "Do _what_?" she demanded.

"Release all that data in one shot like that." Sora sat up, rubbed his shoulder. "Ouch. That hurts, A20." Seeming to realize that she was losing patience with him, he managed a quick smile in her direction. "It's part of everything else," he told her. "When I fought that monster in the other dungeon I ended up with a big load of... well the system would call it viral, but it isn't, really. Just the bits and pieces of data absorbed from other players."

The whole thing made no sense and she said as much. "You don't tell me things," she reminded him, making her character stand up as he did the same. "I've figured out that you're part of the system. I understand that you can do things that affect the system. What I don't understand is how all this information is being absorbed, or why."

He shrugged as he headed into the dungeon. "How? That I don't get either, though I think it has something to do with the goggles. Otherwise you wouldn't be picking up some of what I'm getting." He looked at her when she stopped just inside the doorway. "What? You thought I didn't know? C'mon, A20, you're a lousy liar." He shrugged. "It's your funeral. Just make sure you get those goggles off fast if I tell you to."

"Believe me, I plan on it." The pain she'd received from Sora had been more than enough to convince her that she didn't want to risk getting too much of what he was experiencing. She certainly didn't want to risk ending up just like him.

They stopped in the first room of the dungeon and Sora paused. A20 looked at the walls, the cool blue stone marred by the peculiar breaks that revealed a constant flow of numbers. "Okay, you don't know how. What about why?" She touched one of the breaks but felt nothing. In a lot of ways she was glad. Particularly when Sora followed suit and snatched his hand back as if it hurt. "What is this?"

"I've screwed up the field," Sora confessed, either ignoring or forgetting her first question. "When I fought that thing I absorbed a lot of the data it had gotten from other players. All of which is now filling this field and affecting its performance. This isn't how the system's supposed to work. It's still playable, I think." He eyed his fingers ruefully. "Helba asked me to, of course, but I don't like it. It feels wrong. I _like_ the World. I don't want to mess it up."

"You said she's one of the good guys, though."

He managed a wry smile. "She's one of the good hackers. That means that she might do something to a system if she feels it'll help make things work better in the long run. That doesn't mean that she always does the right thing." With a sigh, he shook his head. "Never mind. I think we have to ask Helba. Given we can get a straight answer from her."

That was true. "She sounds a bit like you," A20 noted.

"Heh. No, she's better at this sort of thing than I am. I was just playing. Helba... I think she always knew this was serious." Sora paused, examining the doorways. "Now then, what was the code? Ahhhh, _Earth saw winter eagerly nod_," he murmured. "Now, what does it mean... Oh, of course." He repeated the words in English. "This way."

They moved from room to room, getting closer to the steps down that showed on A20's map. From the way they were being teleported further forwards, even when Sora took them back towards the entryway, they were obviously following a pattern intended to keep intruders out. It hit her as they found the stairs down, "_East, south, west, east, north_," she exclaimed, realizing what the code had meant and why Sora had translated it to English. He grinned at her. "So what happens now?"

"Fight our way through to the bottom. We don't have to fight everything, fortunately, but Helba doesn't make it easy to find her." Another quick grin. "Not that you can blame her."

Considering that Helba's profession - if one could call it that - was the illegal entry into other people computers, that was certainly true. It was especially true because these days hacking was a capital crime. No one had been executed for it yet, not even the kid who'd caused the Deadly Flash, but it was always an option. A20 said as much and couldn't help but wonder aloud, "Why do it when it's so dangerous?"

Sora shrugged "I never asked her that. Always figured she does it for fun." They stepped into a room with a portal and they paused, startled, when the doors didn't slam shut behind them. "What the..."

**_.oOo._**

It made no sense. Entering a dungeon with a portal _always_ meant you had to fight your way out. He moved closer to the portal, expecting it to explode into life any minute. Nothing. He touched the portal, felt the charge in the air from its presence. _But nothing else. What's going on here?_

"Maybe she knows we're coming and turned everything off," A20 suggested, just as puzzled as Sora was. He glanced at the smaller Twin Blade and she shrugged. "She sent you an invitation, after all. Do we have time to worry about it?"

Acknowledging the statement, Sora sighed. "Okay. Let's go then." He headed through the next door, walked past more portals without setting them off, A20 close behind him. He found it spooky and just plain wrong. Still, there wasn't any point to worrying over it and he hurried on, reaching the bottom level in what he suspected was record time.

"There's nothing," A20 said as they entered the last long hallway and she appeared to be right. The hall dead-ended, cold blue stone gleaming, marked only by the damage Sora had done to the dungeon. He winced at that, still having a hard time accepting the results of his power and wondering if, no matter what he did, he really was just part of the problem. He headed towards the end of the hall as A20 asked, "Sora? Where are you going?"

Footsteps echoed in the hallway as he walked, sounding as if they were echoing from a greater distance than they ought to be. "Everything's an illusion," he told A20. "This place most of all. There's no door, because there's no door." With that, he stepped through.

Beyond was a familiar sight, one he'd visited a number of times when he'd first found his way into Helba's realm. The first time had been an accident, the result of curiosity that had led him to follow a pattern he'd barely noticed. Helba had kicked him out as soon as she'd realized he was there but not without giving him a clue that let him find her again. And again. And again. He rather suspected that the biggest reason she'd put up with him and continued giving him clues was curiosity of her own. _Maybe we are more alike than I thought._ He'd never been willing to move entirely into the world of hacking, mostly because he didn't like cheating, just solving problems and being a nuisance, but he'd provided Helba with information that he was relatively certain she'd made good use of. _For a price, of course. _

"What a _mess_!" A20 exclaimed, staring around Net Slum. Her voice held both fear and distaste, not that Sora could blame her for either. The Net Slum was composed of bits and pieces of old data; graphics, programs, database information. To the viewer's eye it was a mass of papers and buildings and pipes and... things. "Why is it like this? And what's that smell?"

Sora shook his head. "Old data, probably. It's neater than it was the last time I was here, actually. Helba must have found someone to help her organize things a bit." The problem was, no matter what you did to clean up a place like this, more and more data found its way in. The best you could do was stay even and sometimes not even that. _Sort of like my bedroom,_ he grinned, then winced at the memory. He needed to _not_ think about his life outside the World. At least not until he figured out how to get back to it. _If_ he could get back to it. _And that was a thought I could have done without._

Gasping a little, A20 jumped back from what she'd apparently thought was a mound of garbage. It moved, sitting up to stare up at her with a face that looked like it was formed from pieces of a garbage can. That was the other thing about the Slum. Bits and pieces of character data washed up there all the time, carried there by who knew what tide existed within the Net. "It's okay," he told A20. "They won't hurt you."

"Don't be too sure of that."

He started, stared upwards at a figure that was entirely too familiar.

Himself.

_To be continued..._


End file.
